A Glimmer of Starlight (Chapter 1)
"Here's the report you asked for, Ms. Glimmer," Noteworthy said in a monotone voice as he pushed a file to his boss, Starlight Glimmer.
Her voice was sharp and precise. "Thank you, Noteworthy. You may leave now."
Starlight Glimmer decided to enter the police force soon after she made friends with Twilight and her friends. She felt like the position fit her well, and she had always liked detective movies, so she decided "Why not?" Little did she know, getting into the Ponyville Police Department was hard work. Before even qualifying, she had to take a test of fitness. She would spend hours on treadmills, non-moving carriages, and something called the PonyPedaler 5000, where she would spend at least thirty minutes running on thin air, trying to balance on small pedals, and sweating profusely.
Then, she had a mental test where the PPD would check her mental state and criminal record, which she dreaded, because she had the biggest criminal record in pony existence. Luckily, Twilight let it pardon and it was erased from the records. Then, afterwards, she had another physical test and then a drug test every day for a week. When she finally thought she had finished, she had to go through 1 month of training before finally actually making it into the force.
Luckily, through all this, she had her friends, who she loved dearly and who helped her through her tough time. When she finally did make it into the force (not without some help from friends, of course) it was the most rewarding, yet terrible, thing ever. Her first day, she was thrust into one of the craziest situations of her life.
NINE MONTHS PRIOR
Starlight Glimmer walked into the PPD with a nervous-cited look on her face. When it came into view over the hill, she saw a pristine metal 2-story building with 4 windows on each floor. The windows were large, and just as clean, if not cleaner, then the metal that surrounded them. She turned to her left and right, looking away from the building, and saw cobbled road on either side of her. On her left, there was a cart with a woman selling roses in it. Starlight believed her name was Rosebutt, and thought it to be a weird name, but, as a wise man once said, "Do not judge lest ye be judged," so Starlight left it alone.
Looking back at the metal structure before her, she saw an indent in the structure where a door would be. She walked up to the door, and above it saw PONYVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT in all bold and capital letters. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the doors and walked into her new life.
Before her was the busiest workplace she had ever seen. The walls were white linoleum inside, and she had the sense she was on a busy street in Manehattan, with all the business happening in the establishment. She saw a blue unicorn with blue hair and a note for a cutie mark walk by, carrying a disorderly stack of papers and files in his magic. She took a step forward when a pony in a yellow coat with a brown mane bumped into her, too occupied with the paper in his grasp to rush a quick sorry before moving on.
Starlight muttered to herself, "That was a little mean..." She walked farther into the station, but stopped when she heard her name.
"Starlight Glimmer?" The mare that had called for her was sticking her head out the door of an office. She a blue and white striped mane with a blue horn protruding out of it. Her eyes were silver-blue and she had on the biggest smile. She turned her head to the side in a friendly way. "Hello there! Come on in!" the mare poked her head back into the office and Starlight had no option but to oblige.
The office before her was relatively large, the windows on all sides blocked by blinds. Unlike the linoleum from the outside of the office, this was a carpeted room with wooden walls. The door frame was also a different metal then the outside, and it was hollow. The door was also wooden, and the handle was also metal. She looked around the office and saw shelves upon shelves of workbooks and manuals, and file cabinets with papers sticking out of each drawer. The mare was sitting at a desk, which looked to be the same wood as the walls and it was cluttered with more papers, manuals, and dingibobs than any desk in the history of Equestria.
"Hello, my name is Minuette! But, you can call me Colgate, and I will be your personal trainer!"
Starlight Glimmer was unsure of this pony. She seemed... suspicious. Her smile was too... smiley. But, she went along with it anyway. "Hello, Minuette. I am Starlight Glimmer, as you know. Nice to meet you." She smiled, but it was a nervous one.
Minuette seemed to know. "You're so tense! Relax! Oh, and please, call me Colgate. Now-" she was cut off by her radio making a crackling noise.
Starlight heard a man's garbled voice begin to talk, and over the radio she could only make out a few words. She heard "four-nine-nine" and "East 2nd, Chestnut road."
"Got it!" was Colgate's short reply, and she got up from her desk. She put on a brown jacket over her police uniform, and she turned to Starlight "Well, I guess it's time for your first day out!" Colgate smiled, though there was a darker tone to it. She walked through the open door of her office and and walked outside.
"Wh-where are we going?" Starlight asked as she almost tripped over a rock.
Minuette was very composed. Very businesslike. "Ponyville Pub. There's been an accident." Starlight could tell that was the end of the conversation.
Colgate got in her police car, a technology developed about a year ago, and started driving to the Ponyville Pub, a small, quaint place with a homey feel to it, and a door made out of an odd choice of material: stone. That was sort of a theme there. Stone. The entire place was made of stone. The walls, the ceilings. It was in the shape of a dome, and the outside was uneven. Rough dips in the stone made it look like a giant boulder.
When they pulled up to the pub, however, the homeyness was destroyed.
The roof had caved in and the walls were hardly supporting themselves. Ponies were dead, crushed by blood-soaked rocks. Starlight saw things she didn't want to see. But, she had been prepared for this in her training. Everything would be fine as long as she kept her calm.
Colgate immediately walked up to the crime scene, pulling out a portable magnifying glass from her satchel to get a better look at the corners of the rocks. "Starlight, come here."
Starlight walked up behind Colgate and she pointed at the corner of one of the rocks. "See how that's broken?" Colgate asked.
"Yeah..."
"Do you remember what this kind of break means?"
Starlight called back to her training. "It means... Oh! Right! It means that there was an explosion, and that's what broke the rocks."
"Good job. Now the only question is if there was an explosion, where are all the burn marks?"
Starlight looked around. Colgate was right, there were no burn marks anywhere around the ruins of the tavern. She thought back. What in the world could cause an explosion without burn marks? She suddenly remembered a magical spell she had learned in her training. She never thought she would use it...
She muttered under her breath, "Come to me, magic within, create an explosion with no flame nor fire."
"Huh?"
"It's a spell I learned back in my magic school!"
Colgate turned to Starlight. "Go on..."
"It creates an explosion without leaving any evidence! It's a spell called No Flame nor Fire."
"So we're dealing with a unicorn?"
"Yeah, And a powerful one at that. Only a VERY powerful unicorn could have the magic to summon that spell..."
"Alright, forensics can deal with the rest. Our job here is d-" Colgate was interrupted by a spell that hit her in the back and sent her flying across the floor of the pub. Starlight looked to the source of the spell. A unicorn with purple hair and a gray coat. Male. Worn out and wearing a vest. Starlight took out her gun with magic and held it to the unicorn.
"Stop right there!"
"Why should I?" The unicorn was smiling. His voice was high and he laughed after his sentence.
Starlight shot her gun by the unicorn's foreleg. "That was a warning shot. Next time I might not miss."
The unicorn laughed.
"If you come peacefully, I won't have to shoot you."
The unicorn laughed louder, his cackling filling the street.
Starlight aimed her gun right at his head.
Suddenly, the unicorn looked down with an evil smirk on his face, charging up to charge at Starlight. She saw his horn glow and felt her instincts taking over. Her magic moved the gun to his right foreleg and wrapped around the trigger.
BANG!
The unicorn tripped and planted his face in a rock, his muzzle audible cracking against it. Starlight saw blood flood out of his face as he tried to stand back up. Once he finally did, she saw his horn.
It was broken.
She had inadvertently broken another unicorns horn.
He screamed out in pain.
PRESENT DAY
Starlight stared at the pictures in front of her. There was a stone table in the middle of a clearing of trees. Sticking through it was a large black crystal. Three ponies were dead at the scene. Coagulated blood covered the table and the grass around it. 4 more black crystals, similar to the one in the middle of the table, were protruding around it. She called her assistant, Noteworthy, into her office.
"Take me to the crime scene."
"Really, ma'am? Do we have to? It's four hours past my shift end."
Starlight looked up from the picture. "I told you I would pay you more. Now chop-chop."
"Fine." Noteworthy sighed and put on his black suede jacket which was hanging by the coat rack in his boss's office.
"Let's get going."
Starlight and Noteworthy headed out, Starlight grabbing a brown coat from the same coat rack and sliding it on. They walked out of the door to the office and through the tiled building. They passed by very few lit offices, as this was the hour between the night shift and day shift, 12:00 am, and not a lot of ponies had twelve-hour shifts. Starlight waved at one of the lit offices, Caramel's, but he was too absorbed in his papers to wave back. As Noteworthy and Starlight walked out of the PPD, they felt the nice cool air on their faces and Starlight breathed it in.
Noteworthy grabbed a set of keys out of his coat pocket and unlocked his car, getting in the front seat. Starlight noticed how much cars had advanced in the small amount of time since they were developed.
Noteworthy started the car and looked at the file to find the address. "The -uh- the Everfree Forest?"
Starlight looked over dully at him. "We're two trained police officers, we'll be fine. Worst comes to worst..." she tapped her gun holster.
"Alright, whatever you say, boss."
They drove until they reached the clearing in the Everfree.
When they reached it, Noteworthy stopped the car and they both stepped out. They approached the large stone table and the crystals. Noteworthy covered his mouth with his hoof in disgust. "I didn't know ponies had that much blood in them..." On the table were two Earth Ponies, propped up on their own blood. Both of them had all four legs cut off and their eyes gauged out. Noteworthy almost vomited.
The last dead pony at the crime scene simply had slit her throat. She had a teal coat and a dark blue mane styled in more of a traditionally male-like fashion. Her tail was short and spiky, also dark blue, but at the end there were lighter blue parts. Her eyes were an even darker blue than her tail and mane, and not very feminine either. She was also a little skinny and tall for a pony.
Starlight walked past her dead body and started examining the stone table. There were intricate carvings through it and, though broken in half by the black crystal, there seemed to be a bowl of some sort in the middle. She looked the crystal up and down. At the top of the crystal, there was a split that led the crystal into five parts. Starlight took out her chisel and an evidence bag and chipped off a bit of the crystal, putting it in the evidence bag. She also took out a vial and scraped off some of the blood from the stone table. She capped the vial and put it in an evidence bag as well. She put both the bags into her own satchel and looked to Noteworthy. "Do your thing."
Noteworthy got down on his forelegs in front of the girl who had slit her throat. He put his right foreleg on her arm and his eyes widened. "There's a pulse!"
"What?"
"Get her in the car. You drive!" Noteworthy threw her the keys. He quickly opened up the trunk of the car as Starlight dropped the pony into the back. He grabbed medical supplies out of the trunk and walked up to where the pony was. He got some gauze and medical tape as Starlight jumped in front, quickly starting the engine. Noteworthy got in the back with the mare. "DRIVE!"
Starlight began to back out, but she couldn't. "Shit, it's stuck!"
"Fucking Cerberus!" Noteworthy got out of the car and galloped to the back. He saw the wheel in a dip and levitated it up using his magic, lifting the car out. Starlight began moving. He had left the door open for himself so he could jump in. Just before Starlight gained speed, he hopped in next to the dying mare. He closed the door and put the gauze on her open wound. "Speed up!"
Starlight slammed on the brakes. Noteworthy taped the gauze around the mare's neck and grabbed an oxygen tank off the floor. He grabbed a mask off of it and was about to apply it to the woman's face when the car hit something... big. There was a whimper and green eyes appeared outside the windows. "FUCK! TIMBERWOLVES!"
A huge, wolf-like figure launched itself at the window Noteworthy was staring out of. It's head broke through the glass and Noteworthy grabbed the gun from it's holster, immediately firing. Still, gnashing teeth sent spit flying all over him. He threw his gun to the side and resorted to pushing the Timberwolf out of the window. He punched it. "GET THAT OXYGEN MASK AND PUT IT ON THE MARE'S FACE!"
"Got it!" Starlight, still keeping one hoof on the wheel and reaching into the back of the car, grabbed the mask and put it on the blue pony's face. She used her magic to secure the strap around her face. When she turned her eyes back to the road, she saw herself swerving out of control. As she tried to right herself, the mare flew up and out of her seat, landing on the floor in the process.
"SHIT!" Noteworthy said, still struggling against the Timberwolf.
Starlight swerved off the path and into the forest, and the Timberwolf hit against a tree, flying to pieces. Starlight made a quick left turn to head in the direction of Ponyville. Noteworthy picked the mare up off the floor and checked her pulse again. "She's still alive! Thank Celestia!"
Starlight swerved to avoid a tree, but scraped the car against another one instead. There was a loud grinding sound as the car hit against the tree. Then, the crunch of metal as Noteworthy's door was torn off. "FUCK!" Noteworthy almost fell out of the car, but grabbed onto the seat just in time. He dragged himself back into the car just as Starlight hit a log and sent the car flying. It, miraculously, landed on it's wheels again and still drove. Noteworthy, holding on for dear life, saw as the terrain got more even.
Starlight realized, however, that the ground of the Everfree was slightly lower than that of Ponyville. "Get ready for another jump!" She shouted.
"What?" Noteworthy asked, terrified.
The car flew through the air again, landing down on the ground with a thud. A tire was ripped off and the whole car tilted to one side.
The side Noteworthy was on.
He nearly flew out of the car, his back legs scraping the ground. He had gotten the mare buckled safely in the car, not worrying about his own safety.
"Noteworthy!"
He could not respond. The sound of the wind blowing through his ears muffled any other sound.
Starlight saw the Ponyville Hospital just in front of them, and just as she was slowing to a stop, Noteworthy lost his grip. She stopped the car and he tumbled far back. The sound of his bones breaking could be heard.
At this point, many of the ponies in Ponyville were awake. One pony shouted out. "Get that stallion into the hospital!"
Some other ponies rushed out and picked up Noteworthy as Starlight unbuckled the mare. She galloped in with the mare in her arms, the other ponies close behind with Noteworthy. Doctors rushed up with gurneys to take Noteworthy and the mare to rooms. Starlight was worried for her subordinate. No, Noteworthy was not just her subordinate. He was her friend.
Suddenly, a huge crash. Bright streaks of color with black vests rushed by her face, and they were all holding black objects. A mangled scream and Applejack running to a room. Rainbow Dash's room.
She looked out the window and saw a huge Timberwolf carrying a pony on it's back. She also saw a bright rainbow streak in the sky, and made note to ask Twilight later, but that was for another time. Her mind drew attention to the fact that she was a police officer, and she ran to help as well. A security pony stopped her with his hoof. "No passing beyond this point, ma'am."
"But I'm a police officer!"
"Doesn't matter. This is a Ponyville hospital security matter. Please stay back."
Starlight was angry, but she obliged. She sat back down and tensely waited for the message from the doctors ofS Noteworthy's condition.
2 HOURS LATER
The doctors came out and walked up to Starlight, relieved looks on their faces. She tensed up and looked hopefully at the doctor. "Is he okay?"
"Thankfully, he is alive. He'll just be out for a couple of days, and then it will take about a month or so for his injuries to heal."
"Oh, thank Celestia!"
The doctors exchanged looks of sadness.
"Wh-what is it?"
"Though, it's a different story for your other friend. You see... she, um, she..."
"She's what?"
"She's in a coma. We have no idea how long for."
Starlight looked down at her hooves. "Noteworthy will be disappointed. He really wanted to save her."
"Speaking of which, that friend of yours saved this girl's life. Without him, she would be dead, not only in a coma."
"Really?"
"Yes. He would make a great addition to out team here at the hospital. He should consider joining when he is out of the hospital."
"I'll let him know!"
"So, an assessment of his injuries...."
Little did they know, from the bushes outside the window, there was a gray unicorn with purple hair and a broken horn watching.
Author's Note
I know the descriptions of how a Police Department works are probably not the most accurate, but this is Equestria, for Celestia's sake!
TTYL
